Technical Plan

Development and testing of the X-38 is broken into multiple phases, and Dryden participation is planned for the first four phases. Each phase utilizes existing technology, and to some extent, is built upon the previous phase. Johnson Space Center (JSC), the project lead, has designed this approach to implement a "pay as you go" philosophy. The following paragraphs summarize each of the first four phases. Table I is provided to summarize the various aspects of each of the four phases. The concept of the parachute recovery system is illustrated in Figure 1.